Some home insurers penalize dog owners

If you have a pit bill, Rottweiler or certain other breeds of dog in your house, you could be paying more for homeowner’s insurance. If you can get insurance at all.

Doug Finke

If you have a pit bill, Rottweiler or certain other breeds of dog in your house, you could be paying more for homeowner’s insurance. If you can get insurance at all.

Insurance companies are increasingly wary of writing insurance policies on homes that have dogs in them that the companies believe could bite people.

“Insurance companies are not wanting to write people because they have what is considered a vicious dog in the home,” said state Sen. Larry Bomke R-Springfield, who also is an independent insurance agent. “That’s becoming a chronic problem. They go by breed.”

It’s a longer list than people may think. The Illinois Insurance Association supplied a list of breeds it says are responsible for the greatest number of fatal attacks. In decreasing order, they are pit bulls, Rotweillers, German shepherds, huskies, malamutes, Doberman pinschers, chows, great Danes and Saint Bernards. Having any of those breeds in a house could cause some insurance companies to steer clear of writing an insurance policy.

“Companies are all different,” said Kevin Martin, executive director of the association. “Some will write a homeowner’s policy no matter what dog you have. Some will not even write one depending on the type of dog. Some will write a policy and give you one free bite.

“If the dog attacks someone, nine times out of 10, the policy will be canceled after the attack.”

Martin said insurers believe people who don’t own dogs should not face higher costs because some homeowners choose to keep dog breeds that statistically are more likely to bite. And with more than 2,000 companies licensed to write property insurance in Illinois, any homeowner should still be able to find coverage, he said.

Two large Illinois-based insurance companies, State Farm and Allstate, both said they will write policies regardless of a dog’s breed.

“At State Farm, we do not judge whether to insure based on the breed of the dog,” said spokesman Phil Supple. “We believe that any dog can be vicious, any dog can cause harm. We encourage responsible dog ownership rather than penalize a breed.”

Ledy VanKavage, senior director of legal training and legislation at the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, called singling out some dog breeds “almost the new kind of redlining.”

“To me, it doesn’t make sense,” VanKavage said. “Pets are a great deterrent to crime. You’d think insurance companies would like that. As public policy, we want people with dogs to have insurance.”

VanKavage said she has no problem with insurance companies taking action when a particular dog is shown to be dangerous. However, she objects to the idea that an entire breed can be assumed to be dangerous.

Last year, state Sen. Don Harmon, D-Oak Park, sponsored a bill that would have prohibited insurance companies from charging higher premiums just because certain dog breeds are kept in a home. The bill was never called for a vote. Instead, Harmon opted for a resolution calling for creation of a task force to look into the issue of “breed discrimination” and the availability of homeowner’s insurance.

Harmon said he chose to create a task force because of opposition from the insurance industry to the original bill.

“I have fought with the insurance industry before. They are formidable opponents on legislative matters,” Harmon said. “I’d like to get everyone together at the table to find out why some of these decisions have been made.”

The task force was supposed to be appointed and hold hearings over the summer. However, because of the protracted 2007 session of the General Assembly, it still has not begun work.